Posted on 04/30/2003 4:09:22 PM PDT by flashbunny
A southern Wisconsin man who traveled to Toronto two weeks ago and then developed pneumonia is the state's first probable case of SARS, the deadly new respiratory illness that originated in Asia.
The man has been discharged from the hospital and is now under isolation at home and is cooperating with health officials, said Mark Wegner, the doctor coordinating the investigation of severe acute respiratory syndrome for the Wisconsin Division of Public Health. His family members are being monitored for possible symptoms.
State officials also on Wednesday reported another suspected case of SARS - a young girl from northeastern Wisconsin who also traveled to Toronto in mid-April but had no connection to or contact with the man who is the probable case.
"There's no one else in her family ill at this time," and she may well turn out to have the flu or some other illness, Wegner said.
He would not say where she lives or attends school, citing medical privacy rules.
"We are working with the local health department to notify the school. Classroom contacts will be told to monitor themselves for 10 days for fever and respiratory symptoms," Wegner said. "We're working with the local health department to ensure that all the proper protocols are followed" to prevent possible spread, he said.
Ironically, both potential cases came to light a day after the World Health Organization lifted its warning against travel to Toronto. Canadian officials angrily challenged the order when it was issued last week, saying that SARS was not out of control in that city.
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Julie Gerberding, was on her way to Toronto for an international conference of scientists and health officials on SARS.
The CDC never included Toronto on its list of places Americans should avoid traveling to, and Gerberding said last week that all cases in Canada so far had involved people who had traveled to Asia or another area where SARS was epidemic or people who had close contact with them, especially health care workers.
No unexplained community transmission was occurring in Toronto, she said.
However, it's not known how the two Wisconsin people who are being investigated as potential new SARS cases may have been exposed.
"The individuals did not have contact with the health care system in Toronto as far as we are aware," Wegner said.
The young girl that is suspected of having SARS went to Toronto with her family in mid-April. Her family contacted a doctor in Wisconsin after they returned when the girl developed a fever and cough.
A rapid flu test was positive, but such tests have a high rate of false positives and are not considered reliable for diagnosis, Wegner said.
Samples from the girl and the man have been sent to the CDC for testing for SARS.
As of Monday evening, there were 222 suspected and 52 probable cases of SARS in the United States.
The CDC so far has not revised its position on travel to Toronto, but that could change if more U.S. cases turn out to be linked to exposure there, said CDC spokeswoman Rhonda Smith.
"The information has to bubble up to us. As we get new information, our response changes," she said.
"The only action we have taken to Toronto is to issue travel alerts," advising visitors to avoid health care settings like hospitals where they might be exposed to SARS, and to call their doctors if they develop any SARS symptoms such as fever, cough or trouble breathing, she said.
The only other Wisconsin person that the CDC lists as meeting the definition of a suspected case is that of Bamidele Ali, an engineer for GE Medical Systems who developed possible SARS symptoms after visiting Singapore and China in March.
Ali's case drew particular concern because he initially refused to cooperate with health officials investigating whether he has SARS. The Waukesha County district attorney's office charged him with a misdemeanor, and on Tuesday he called and agreed to submit to follow-up tests and to be interviewed about his travels and contacts.
A more complete version of this story will appear online later tonight and in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in the morning.
Music parents at Southwest High School are meeting at this moment to decide whether to allow the band & chorus kids to travel to Toronto as planned later this month.......
At least WBAY-TV was reporting that in addition to the SARS case down in the Milwaukee area, there's another suspected case of SARS in northeast Wisconsin. I believe they described the person as a school-age girl. They wouldn't say where in northeast Wisconsin. We may or may not find out more later.
2 weeks ago? I was under the impression that there haven't been any cases outside of a hospital in 20 days?
....and the NE WI girl had visited Toronto recently........
Posted May 01, 2003
SARS fears send students to Minneapolis
By Kelley Bruss
kbruss@greenbaypressgazette.com
Toronto is out and Minneapolis is in.
Concerns about severe acute respiratory syndrome will keep Green Bay Southwest High School music students from making a trip to Canada May 22-26. Instead, an alternate trip to Minnesota is in the works.
Students were disappointed but resigned.
“We’d rather go to Minneapolis than nowhere at all,” said junior Mallory Blake, 17, a violinist.
The students’ parents made the decision at a meeting Wednesday night at Southwest. Not everyone was happy with the outcome of the vote.
About 100 people attended the meeting, mostly parents.
“We wanted to go to Toronto … this is a disappointment,” said Chris Melchior, whose daughter, Maggie, is in the choir and the band.
Parents had to grapple with multiple issues in making their decision.
Foremost was SARS —a sometimes fatal flu-like illness that has infected about 5,500 people worldwide recently, killing more than 350, including some people in Toronto.
The World Health Organization on Tuesday lifted its warning against travel to Toronto, but the situation there remains uncertain.
Finances also were at stake. If the trip was canceled altogether, families in the Green Bay district faced losses of about $300 per student.
If the group had decided to go but some individuals pulled out, those people would have lost $600, the entire cost of the trip.
As it is, some money used for down payments will be lost. But enough money will be left over to pay for the Minneapolis trip without asking students to raise more money.
Green Bay Superintendent Daniel Nerad decided that news media would not be allowed in the high school auditorium during the discussion portion of the meeting.
But afterward, Melchior said about a quarter of the questions seemed focused on finances and the rest were centered on health concerns.
Parents filled out two ballots to make the decision. First, they were asked to say yes or no to Toronto. Then they were asked to say yes or no to Minneapolis.
Southwest Principal Karen Utnehmer said the number of votes on Toronto wasn’t as important as how the votes were distributed.
The musical groups would have needed enough students to make performances possible at the festival, where they were to get feedback on their work.
That didn’t happen.
“We do not have appropriate voice combinations and instrumentation to make that a viable option,” Utnehmer said of going to Toronto.
Southwest is the fourth school to pull out of the festival.
Just one group, from a Cincinnati school, was still planning to go as of early Wednesday.
Utnehmer held up a fistful of “yes” votes for Minneapolis — and just five ballots either with questions or marked “no.”
“This truly then becomes the mandate for the music faculty … to put together, in a very short time, the experience for Minneapolis,” she said.
After studying the information available, Melchior had decided her daughter could go to Toronto. But she wasn’t about to say no to another option.
“The kids raised money … for the last year and a half for the purpose of going on a trip,” she said.
Nerad has the final say on any trip to Toronto. He was notified Wednesday of the parents’ decision and “was happy that they were able to arrange something else,” said Karen VandeSande, executive director of instruction for the district.
The mood was a mix of disappointment and relief as the question was resolved by about 8 p.m. Utnehmer said she understands families’ disappointment and hopes they’ll be enthused about the new trip when they get used to the idea.
Some adjusted outlooks were already on in place at the end of the meeting.
“Minneapolis is better than no trip at all,” parent David Boreen said.Posted May 01, 2003
Northeastern Wisconsin girl examined for SARS
Press-Gazette and The Associated Press
The Wisconsin Division of Public Health is investigating the state’s first probable case of severe acute respiratory syndrome.
The adult man from southern Wisconsin traveled to Toronto in mid-April and, within 10 days, developed symptoms compatible with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s case definition for SARS.
The Wisconsin man is considered a probable case because he had evidence of pneumonia on his chest X-ray.
“The individual is recovering at home, and public health officials continue to monitor his progress,” said Mark Wegner, chief of the state’s communicable disease epidemiology section.
Health officials are also monitoring two others suspected cases, including a school-aged girl from Northeastern Wisconsin. A third person — a man — has recovered from his illness and has submitted samples to determine if he had SARS.
The case in Northeastern Wisconsin meets the “suspect” case definition for SARS because the girl has a travel history to Toronto and developed a fever and respiratory symptoms within 10 days of her return.
School officials in Green Bay and De Pere were not aware of any concerns about SARS in their districts. Officials from other districts were not available late Wednesday nor was Judy Friederichs, director of Brown County’s Health Department.
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